It has been three years since Dhaka City Corporation was divided into two separate bodies but neither succeeded in living up to the expectations of the city dwellers.
The key objective of the division, which took place on November 29, 2011, was to provide the people in Dhaka with better services but that has hardly been fulfilled.
Roads, footpaths, footbridges, underpasses, markets and the drainage system in areas under the jurisdiction of both Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) remain in poor condition.
Besides, compared to the time of Dhaka City Corporation, there has not been any distinct improvement in issues such as the waste management system, mosquito control, and social and cultural support.
Dhaka residents have claimed that irregularities, corruption and lack of supervision made the move to divide the city corporation unfruitful.
Saidul Alam, a resident of Paribagh, said: “Both the DSCC and DNCC authorities remained indifferent to a range of problems such as potholes on roads, poor drainage system and occupied footpaths.”
“Apart from the poor condition of infrastructures, the city dwellers have continually had unpleasant experience when it comes to accomplishing tasks such as obtaining birth certificates and trade licences,” he added.
Tania Islam, who lives in Mirpur, claimed it was easier to obtain birth certificates and other such documents from the ward councillor, but going to the zonal city corporation office to get these done was a horrible experience.
“We earlier could complain to ward councillors about our problems, but now there are no councillors as the city corporation elections have been postponed,” she said.
Birth certificates, trade licences and other related documents are now provided at 10 zonal offices, with five offices under each city corporation.
No elections have been held in the two city corporations since the 2011 division, which is why neither has any mayor or ward councillor to run operations.
Development of Dhaka has not gathered pace as bureaucrats have been deputed as departmental heads at both the city corporations, permanent DNCC and DSCC officials said.
They warned that the situation might aggravate if the government implemented the new organogram, which proposes that only secretaries or additional secretaries could be appointed as departmental heads or to other key posts.
They also claimed that both the local government bodies had been rife with corruption since the division as bureaucrats, who held office for short periods on deputation, had almost no accountability.
Urban planners have also echoed the city dwellers and city corporation staff. Professor Nazrul Islam, president of Asiatic Society of Bangladesh and chairman of the Centre for Urban Studies, expressed deep concern over the poor state of city services and the absence of elected public representatives in the two local government bodies.
“I do not think anything changed for the better after the division of Dhaka City Corporation. The government said citizen services would improve but where is the change now?” he questioned.
Referring to media reports, Nazrul said the division had hardly brought the residents of Dhaka any extra benefit.
He suggested that the government should not transfer DSCC and DNCC administrators in every six months in accordance with the city corporation act, adding: “The top executives were transferred before they could fully understand their roles, thus eventually depriving the city residents of better services.”
Urban planner Professor Dr Sarwar Jahan said dividing Dhaka City Corporation and the absence of elected representatives are responsible for the failure of both city corporations to offer better services to the people in Dhaka.
Top DSCC and DNCC officials, however, denied the allegations.
DSCC Chief Executive Officer Ansar Ali Khan told the Dhaka Tribune the division of Dhaka City Corporation had enabled the city dwellers to enjoy improved services.
“Things got easy for them as the time to deliver services was significantly reduced,” he said.
Ansar said the absence of elected public representatives did not bring any trouble as the zonal offices received residents’ complaints.
“We always try to solve the problems,” he added.
BM Enamul Haque, DNCC chief executive officer, said he believes city services in areas under the remit of the DNCC now are way better compared to any other period in the past.
“Addressing complaints lodged by city people are always our priority,” he added.
